When the Daylight Comes
by Seren Arian
Summary: He knew it was a risk, but it was a risk he was willing to take for her. He might not come back, but it didn't matter; so long as she was in his arms before the daylight comes.


**Hi~! This is (probably) my first (and last) song-fic about Mortal Instruments. During City of Glass, the night Jace slept with Clary before heading out to kill Valentine. I don't own anything, not City of Glass, not Jace or Clary, not even Daylight. They belong to Cassandra Clare and Maroon 5.**

***Note: Some lines (such as the oh-whoa) have been purposefully removed; and other lines (though not that plenty) were altered**

* * *

_Here I am waiting, I'll have to leave soon_

Jace looked at the sleeping figure of Clary beside him. Her breathing was steady; lips forming words he couldn't hear repeatedly. He leaned in close, watching her lips silently form the words. Or word, depending on how you look at it.

_Jace. Jace. _The words repeated itself all over again, like the mantra of life and death; like her life depended on it. He stroked her red hair softly with his right hand, his warm breath tickling the back of her neck.

_Why am I, holding on?_

He stared at her hands, clasping his own left hand tightly and close to her small chest. Clary curled up into a fetal position - reminding Jace of the sleeping figure of Isabelle when all of them (including a toddler Max) had their own sleep over at the library. She looked so peaceful, he thought. Like a young child; she _hated _being teased and mistaken for one.

Jace smiled; if he returned from what he was about to do, he could tease her a bit about this, about ow much she looked like a child against the moonlight. She hugged his hand a bit too tight; but it didn't matter to him, not at the moment. He was enjoying the peace that covered her face more than the stopped blood flow to his hand. Her peaceful face was struck with discomfort for a moment, grumbling about her father. _Father._

He punched himself inwardly. Jace only came here to spend his one last night with Clary before he would leave to find his father and kill him. It wasn't something he was proud to do (I mean, who wouldn't feel weird about killing the man who raised you?), nor was he proud with the fact he might _never _come back.

_We knew this day would come, we knew it all along_

It was true, that they knew it all along, yet not quite. They knew they were siblings, experiments, and that their power-hungry father was just about ready to create a war that would forever be embedded in historical books here in Idris. Although they didn't know something that involved one of them abandoning the other.

_How did it, come so fast?_

He silently pulled his hand out of Clary's death grip, keeping still when she subconsciously reached out for something to hold, only to grasp the thin air. Jace scooted over to the edge of the bed carefully before he stood up and strode over to the desk by the foot of Clary's bed. Clary's sketchpad and pencils (which might have been brought back by Luke when he abandoned her for a short amount of time) lay unused, untouched on her desk.

Jace sat down on the stool beside the desk and opened the sketchpad, skimming over the handiwork his _sister _made. Most of them weren't just random sketches, some were drawings of him, some oddly resembling Sebastian, and one of them was them; just him and Clary, that night before her birthday at the greenhouse. He craned his neck to see her still sleeping.

Some part of him _craved _for Clary to wake up already so she could stop him from what he was going to do minutes from now. Some part of him wished she would plead for him to stay and say that she needed him, because he wasn't so sure anyone would need him now, now that he found out he was part-demon. He yawned silently, careful not to make a sound. His eyes drooped a bit, shoulders slumped down. He craned his neck again to look at her laying flat on her stomach.

_This is our last night but it's late_

_And I'm trying not to sleep_

_'Cause I know, when I wake_

_I will have to slip away_

He didn't want to sleep, no matter how tempting it was to just lie down by Clary's side and stay by the sidelines; he wanted to _do _something, and that something involved him stabbing Valentine in the chest with a seraph blade while vultures pecked at the carcass of Sebastian Verlac. The imposter, mind you.

_And when the daylight comes I'll have to go_

_But tonight I'm gonna hold you so close_

_'Cause in the daylight we'll be on our own_

_But tonight I need to hold you so close_

He ripped a piece of paper and took one of the pencils Clary owned; surely she wouldn't strangle him if he took one of her papers. Quickly, he scrawled out what he wanted to write and folded it, slipping off the Morgenstern/Wayland/_whatever it truly was _ring off his finger and laid them both down on the bedside table. Jace peeked at her window, where not a single trace of sunlight was seen; it would be hours from now before it rose out of the east.

Jace looked back at Clary. _I could risk a few more hours before I pass,_ he thought inwardly. So he crept back onto the bed by Clary's side and hugged her close to his chest, where his supposed-demon heart beat.

* * *

He woke up to the sound of hushed voices in the floor below. For a moment, all he thought of was confusion; why was he here? It only took him a second to realize that he had the girl of his dreams (yet declared off-limits to him) in his arms, all tucked up, and sleeping. Realization struck him like Church would when you'd kick him by accident. _Oh, right. _He glanced down on Clary, her red hair spread out across the pillow, lips slightly parted as she breathed in and out.

_Here I am staring at your perfection_

_In my arms, so beautiful_

She looked beautiful and peaceful, like whatever horror that was about to unveil itself for the day couldn't intrude the safety of her dreams. This was the first time Jace saw her like this, and this might as well be the last. He sat up at the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes with the back of his fists. He saw that slowly, the stars faded in the colorful swirls of blue and orange; a sure sign the sun was about to rise.

_The sky is getting back the stars are burning out_

_Somebody slow it down_

_This is way too hard, cause I know_

_When the sun comes up, I will leave_

Jace hugged his own figure, dreading the fact that he was supposed to leave right now, but he hadn't. Not yet. "If I leave, I'd leave her behind," He muttered and sat back on the bed, stroking Clary's silk-like hair. "That's something I'm not willing to do." _But I _should _do it. If I want her to live a life on her own_. He sighed and stopped stroking her hair and ran it into his own. _Shouldn't all big brothers do what's best for their little sisters? _"Maybe," He sighed, "Either way, I'm still going to do it."

He leaned close, taking in every peaceful and calm feature she had.

_This is my last glance_

_That will soon be memory_

"I'm sorry Clary." He whispered, his cool breath on her cheek making her shudder. The faint sound of the cocks** (the chicken, not the dirty thing most people think of) **announced it was time for him to leave. _Screw them_, he thought bitterly_, I'd rather stay here. _

"It's not an option," He growled lowly to himself.

_And when the daylight comes I'll have to go_

_But last night I held you so close_

_'Cause in the daylight you'll be on your own_

_But today I need to hold you so close_

He kissed her forehead softly, the spot right between her eyebrows.

_I never wanted to stop_

_Because I don't wanna stuck alone babe, stuck alone babe_

_I was afraid of the dark_

_But now it's all that I want, all that I want, all that I want_

And when the daylight comes I'll have to go

"I love you Clary. Sister or not." He muttered as he got up, and strode over to the window. He opened it and looked back at her; her face contorted in confusion, as though she felt something wrong outside the embrace of her dreams.

_But tonight I'm gonna hold you so close_

_'Cause in the daylight we'll be on our own_

_But tonight I need to hold you so close_

_And when the daylight came I had to go_

_But tonight I'm gonna hold you so close_

* * *

He jumped out of the window, landing softly on the soft patch of the earth and sprinted. He could hear the murmurs that went beyond the walls of Amatis' home, the home where he left his sister to fight their father. To fight their father. Jace couldn't believe it; was he actually considering to take away the life of the _very _man who raised him both lovingly and harshly?

_'Cause in the daylight you'll be on your own_

But if it meant that a war would be prevented and that she didn't have to fight, he would do it. . .although he wasn't sure if he'd come back alive. I mean, hello, he was going to kill the man who taught him _everything _he knew; and that man was _twice _as powerful Jace could _ever _be.

_No_, He thought fiercely. _Kill him and go back; that's the task at hand_. And with that, he ran faster, a burst of confidence blooming in his chest. He would do this for _Clary_. He would fight his father for _Clary_. He _will _come back for _Clary_. Because this is what it was all about, making a world for her where they could live in peace; even if they were siblings.

_But tonight I would hold you so close_

* * *

**I hope you like it! Please comment below! ~ Seren_Arian**


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